Who am I? It’s a fair question, I suppose. I know who I was, or at-least I think I do. Memories of the gray streets of London, the drizzle on a Tuesday afternoon and the congested roads all spring to mind when I look back. The last I can recall of that life is the flash of headlights and the screech of brakes. The sleek bonnet of a cream white Mercedes. Then, nothingness. At-least that’s what I had always expected, but on this occasion, I was very happy to have been proven wrong.

I looked down at the reflection of myself in a nearby puddle, running my fingers through my long curls of dark brown hair. I had always been more of a straight blonde-haired girl in my last life, but I could get used to this change. My face was almost exactly as the same as it had been before, except my lips were thicker and my cheekbones higher. In the place of my twenty-first century clothing, I now wore a ruby red dress that had been conveniently placed in a chest in the cave I had arrived in, along with a small cloth bag.

"Lady Carnelian!"

I turned to see Edwy running up to me, his hazel eyes wide with excitement. He was a scrawny boy of about nine or ten, who I had found wandering at the edge of the forest when I had first arrived, and who had turned out to be a surprisingly useful ally.

"I took your message to the Baron, and he said he wants to meet you!"

"Aren’t you a good boy?" I said with a sweet smile, ruffling his unkempt brown hair with a private twinge of disgust as I tried to ignore the smell of his unwashed body. He beamed up at me like a dog whose owner had given them a fresh bone; it was laughably easy to manipulate a love starved child. He probably hoped I would adopt him or something. "Now, take me to him."

Edwy led me through a winding forest path, ducking under fallen branches and through overgrown bushes. From what I had gathered, the villagers rarely ventured this far in, as the forest belonged to the King and hunting on crown land was an offense that merited the noose. In reality though, the King’s men hadn’t had much influence in these parts for several years, and in their place bandits had settled, using the dense forest as a convenient base from which to raid nearby villages. I slowed as we approached a wooden wall, augmented by carved spikes. A few rotting heads hung nearby, a warning that needed no elaboration.

"Halt!" a swarthy bandit appeared almost out of nowhere from behind a tree, armed with a bow and arrow. ‘You’re Lady Carnelian?’ he asked.

"I am."

"The Baron is waiting."

We were led into the fort, leering eyes watching from every direction. The bandits were a ragged bunch, with more scars and missing limbs than I could shake a stick at. They were mostly young men, but there was the odd elder among them.

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"That's her then," a skinny bandit said we approached a grand hut at the center of the fort. He stepped forward, a smirk playing across his painted face. "I'm going to have to check you before you see the Baron, my lady. No disrespect or nothing."

"Fine." I submitted to his very thorough search without protest. It wasn't dignified, but I had suffered worse. I raised an eyebrow as he ran his hands up my waist, resting them gently on my breasts. "I don't think you'll find many surprises hidden in there," I said as he momentarily widened his eyes, clearly noticing my lack of core. He then winked and stepped back, bowing with faux humility.

"After you, my lady."

I walked past him and into the hut, leaving Edwy outside. As I stepped through the doorway I raised my hand to my face to cover the stench. Before me lay a huge man splayed out on a bed, tearing at a piece of skewered meat held in his hands. He was bare-chested and had a long matted beard, with pieces of food still embedded in its tangles.

"Well, well, well," the Baron said, picking at something in his teeth. "You’re as fine as the stripling said you were."

"Indeed."

"Give me one reason not to make you one of my whores."

"We can work together," I said, bringing out the map I had found when I had arrived in this world out of my cloth sack. "I have strong reason to believe that there is a gold hoard located in this barrow. Enough to make us the richest gang in the kingdom."

"Huh," the Baron said, blinking as he struggled to see the map from where he lay. "And what’s to stop me taking this map and getting the treasure myself?"

"You would never make it in and out of there alive, as you are now. You need someone like me. Someone with powers."

"And what powers are these?" he asked, still eyeing me up hungrily.

"Come here," I beckoned to him, giving him a slight half-smile. He hesitated and then heaved himself to his feet, stumbling towards me as they always did. I wrapped my arms around his neck and leant in close, placing my lips against his right ear. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. "This," I said as my right hand elongated into a pointed blade, the Baron gurgling in surprise as it tore through his stomach. It was only the third time I’d done that, but this time it was much less messy. I must be getting better. I withdrew my blade from his midriff and pushed him backwards, letting him crash onto the floor.

"What the fuck did you just do to him?" the skinny bandit exclaimed, thrusting his dagger in my face. Despite his bravo, I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was scared out of his mind. I locked my eyes with his, talking in a calm soothing voice so as not to alarm him into trying anything foolish.

"The Baron was weak. A shadow of his former self. You all knew that." I paused, giving time for these words to sink into their thick skulls. "I have powers, ones that can take us out of this miserable little forest. Join me, and I can offer treasure beyond your imagination, and a right hand seat beside me when we are victorious."

"Or what?"

"Or you can join him in the grave." I tilted my head at the Baron, now lying flat on his back, gurgling. I could hear the cogs turning in their heads, each considering whether it was worth risking the same fate as their master. Finally, the skinny bandit lowered his dagger, bowing his head.

"What would you have me do?" he asked, cracking a gap-toothed grin.